Small solar set up for TT.
Got home with a used 2006 Nash 26X TT that I bought a little while ago. I want to put some solar on it, but not get carried away at this time. There's a chance I may not keep this trailer so I don't want to put a lot of time, money or effort into the solar until I do decide to keep it. Part of it is making up my mind if this TT is too small. There's another model three feet longer that I'd like.
The TT is factory wired from the roof to the batteries with #10 wire for solar. It's probably about a 14' run. There are two 6V batteries on the tongue. If I keep the trailer I already know how I'll add two more batteries.
I wanted to just put a panel on the roof and hook up the wiring to the panels and batteries. I don't want to get into running larger wire, roof boxes, drilling holes, figuring how to get it down through cabinets, buying a controller and so on at this time.
However, it appears I can only go with about 15W of solar without using a controller. So the next approach I'm looking at is putting about 2-300W of non-tilted panels on the roof, using the factory wiring to where it comes out at the batteries and then using a hopefully WATERPROOF controller to connect to the batteries.
Can anyone recommend a suitable WATERPROOF / WEATHERPROOF controller that I can mount outside near the batteries? If a truly weatherproof controller doesn't exist, then I might be able to mount it in a waterproof electrical box under the battery rack if the controller won't generate too much heat. This is in Alaska, so outside temperature shouldn't be a problem.
I do have electrical in the back yard to run the Progressive Dynamics PD9245 converter. In storage mode it's at 13.2V and the charge wizard goes to an equalize mode of 14.4V every 21 hours for 15 minutes.
What are your recommendations on a simple solar set up using the factory wiring? I don't want to use "suitcase" styled panels due to the lack of storage space in the TT.
Bill
The TT is factory wired from the roof to the batteries with #10 wire for solar. It's probably about a 14' run. There are two 6V batteries on the tongue. If I keep the trailer I already know how I'll add two more batteries.
I wanted to just put a panel on the roof and hook up the wiring to the panels and batteries. I don't want to get into running larger wire, roof boxes, drilling holes, figuring how to get it down through cabinets, buying a controller and so on at this time.
However, it appears I can only go with about 15W of solar without using a controller. So the next approach I'm looking at is putting about 2-300W of non-tilted panels on the roof, using the factory wiring to where it comes out at the batteries and then using a hopefully WATERPROOF controller to connect to the batteries.
Can anyone recommend a suitable WATERPROOF / WEATHERPROOF controller that I can mount outside near the batteries? If a truly weatherproof controller doesn't exist, then I might be able to mount it in a waterproof electrical box under the battery rack if the controller won't generate too much heat. This is in Alaska, so outside temperature shouldn't be a problem.
I do have electrical in the back yard to run the Progressive Dynamics PD9245 converter. In storage mode it's at 13.2V and the charge wizard goes to an equalize mode of 14.4V every 21 hours for 15 minutes.
What are your recommendations on a simple solar set up using the factory wiring? I don't want to use "suitcase" styled panels due to the lack of storage space in the TT.
Bill
